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Hi,
I just want to find out if there is anybody out there who is homeschooling their special needs child? The reason I want to find out is because we haven't been satisfied with the way the local county MRDD early childhood education and public school system are ran in regards to my 4-year-old son, Mikey, who is mildly retarded.
We pulled him out of the MRDD ECE program just after we adopted him (we fostered him from birth) because we felt like all they were doing was trying to keep him dumbed down with no emphasis on academics and we decided to unenroll him in the local school district's special needs preschool after the special needs teacher drew up his IEP without our input and knowledge. After seeing that she did his IEP prior to our registrating him for school, I had a discussion with her in which she informs me that she didn't believe us when we told her what Mikey could do academically.
Since Mikey will be going to kindergarten in the next school year, we are not too thrilled with the prospect of him having to attend the nearby public elementary school, where we know the cirriculum is dumbed down below what my wife has done with him academically. She has worked with him in doing homeschool preschool by getting him to learn his alphabets and related phonics special sounds and blends, getting him to count up to 100 by himself and getting Mikey started reading three and four-letter words and short sentences from a phonics reading text book that his older sister used when she was in Pre-K 4 in the local Christian school. Columbus Public School requirements for kids in kindergarten is that they learn to count to 10, know their alphabets and do some light reading by the end of the school year.
On top of that, we don't want Mikey in public school because anytime he is in a classroom setting he has a tendency to do what he wants and we end up having behavioral problems when he gets back into the home setting where there are limitations and rules. We have learned that he does this after he attends Sunday school in church and when he was attending the MRDD preschool classes before we yanked him out.
So, again I would appreciate any information on homeschooling special needs kids, as my wife and I feel this is the route that we are going to have to take with Mikey.
--Harold
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I have homeschooled my special needs children. They were all older then your son. One of my children at age nine in third grade was required to know his colors(he's colorblind-but they didn't know that)and count to 10. Told me he couldn't remember anything or copy from one line to the next. Said his IQ was listed at 65 but thought it was fudged as that was the lowest the school would except. They were wrong. I tailored his curicuulum to his needs. I did not join a homeschool group because my son had RAD among other things, but in your case, it might be of benefit. There is tons of information online and for younger kids, many stores have learning material. I made it as fun and hands on as I could to keep him interested. He's currently 14 and mainstreamed into a regular 7th grade with only math and handwriting accomadations. If you all are wanting to homeschool and have found teaching your son to be a benefit, go for it.
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Harold, I don't know where you are, but you mentioned Columbus and if you are talking about Columbus, Ohio, I may be able to give you some contacts who can help you find out about homeschooling special needs kids there.
We homeschool in PA, and there are several special needs kids in our large homeschooling group, so I know it can be done very successfully.
Every state's requirements are different, and in PA there are a few things parents need to do differently in terms of documenting their homeschooling if the child has an IEP. I don't know if the same is true where you are, but folks in a local homeschooling group should be able to tell you.
Feel free to pm me.
I didn't start til last year as we had a good autism program here in NC. I plan my own curriculum and take lots ofbreaks that interest her (mainly art), some music and yoga.She is older than your child tho. Oak Meadow has a good program and is not tooooo costly. Also, following the Charlotte Mason method is a great way to learn. It's called a "living education" and doesn't use textbooks (tho we added them for math and some for science). We use a lot of American Girl and Dear America as we are studying US history this year. If nothing else, Oak Meadow can give you a curriculum guideline to follow. I found it really helped me this year as my daughter (who is 12 but on a 4th or 3rd even grade level) and I develop a good curriculum. NExt year, I will order the actual program as it gets tougher as they get older. lol It's not hard and use rewards to hold his attention. They can be dollar store at end of week, prize bag if he earns so many "coins" (pretend of course!) I LOVE homeschooling my daughter. When my Asperger son either tests out of EC or reaches middle school, I intend to homeschool him as well.Be prepare, it's not for everyone. I tried to homeschool my eldest (my adopted son) and it did not work at all. He's happier in school...he's 13 tho, much older than yours!!!!! Good luck!Susan